Santa Ana : Infant Treatment Home Being Moved to New Site

Workers early this morning were scheduled to begin moving a massive, two-story historic home to its new location at 3020 W. Harvard St., where it will be renovated and made into a center for the care of developmentally delayed infants.

The 4,600-square-foot house, built in 1924 in the 1500 block of East 4th St. by early Santa Ana resident and automobile dealer George Dutton, was separated into four pieces and placed on four semi-trailer trucks for the move.

Snow House Movers of Santa Ana planned to move the wing and garage of the house between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. this morning. The two halves of the main structure are to be moved between midnight tonight and 6 a.m. Thursday morning.

The colonial house was donated to United Cerebral Palsy of Orange County by Randall McCardle, Donald Fassnacht and Richard Hanson, its most recent owners. Between 1978 and 1984, former Santa Ana Mayor Gordon Bricken’s acoustical engineering firm also maintained an office in the house.

Gwen Berg, community liaison for United Cerebral Palsy, said the organization plans to renovate the house and employ pediatricians, nutritionists, psychologists and other therapists to aid families of infants with disabilities such as cerebral palsy and Down’s syndrome.

“The program teaches parents how to adapt to their child’s needs and includes instruction on feeding, handling and positioning the babies to help them adjust to life more quickly,” Berg said. “We focus on their abilities rather than their disabilities.”

Berg said the new center, which will not open for at least six months, will be the only one of its kind in the local area to offer services in Spanish as well as English. United Cerebral Palsy also hopes to add services in Vietnamese, Berg added.